(Rasmussen Poll) 67% Prefer Merry Christmas While 26% Opt For Happy Holidays

As the holiday season begins, 67% of American adults like stores to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in their seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% prefer the Happy Holidays line.

There is no gender gap on this question and few demographic differences. From a politically partisan perspective, 88% of Republicans prefer “Merry Christmas” while just 57% of Democrats favor the saying.

Heading into Thanksgiving week, only 27% say they have begun their Christmas or holiday shopping . Consumer confidence among American consumers has been sliding in recent months, giving retailers a cloudy profit forecast in 2007. Most Americans say they plan to spend less on holiday gifts this year. Rasmussen Reports will be updating those figures throughout the holiday season.

Meanwhile, 57% of respondents say they will attend a Christian service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day this year. A little less than one-third (30%) won’t go to a special service. Women are more likely to attend a Christmas service than men.

My first "real" job was working Saturdays and holidays in a small town department store.

We sold clothing and shoes, and during Christmas we did free gift wrapping.

The store's owner was a Jewish Gentleman who treated me as his own son. When I was injured in a football game in high school he was the first person to get to me on the field and he came from out of the stands.

He taught me everything I know about sales.

His greatest lesson was, "Make people feel happy and comfortable, and you can sell them anything. Make them feel angry and insult them and you can't sell them toilet paper in a diarrhea ward."

He always had Christmas music playing non-stop from the time the doors were opened until they closed and wished everyone he saw a Very Merry Christmas and insisted all sales people did the same.

We got some new decorations one year that said Happy Holidays and he got so mad he called the company where he bought the items and gave them absolute Hell.

He then sent me to a town 20 miles away to get replacement decorations with these instructions: "And make damn sure they say Merry Christmas. Not Happy Holidays. Not Merry Xmas. Merry Christmas."

Modern stores could learn a lot from his philosophy.

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